Here's why Activision won't make 'Call of Duty' Xbox-exclusive

Kotick said that if Microsoft bought his company and blocked other gaming platforms from offering "Call of Duty," it would deprive many of the 100 million monthly active users and hurt the franchise's popularity. "You would have a revolt if you were to remove the game from one platform," said Kotick. He added that it is vital to offer the game across multiple platforms, including consoles, mobile phones and PCs. https://ift.tt/WcbrQtk

A look at the NABU network an open community launched in December 2022 that preserves historical examples of NABU PC hardware software and documentation (Ernie Smith/VICE)

Ernie Smith / VICE:
A look at the NABU network, an open community launched in December 2022 that preserves historical examples of NABU PC hardware, software, and documentation  —  The NABU Network was an obscure, forgotten part of Canadian tech history—until the day the internet noticed that thousands …

UK convenience stores are increasingly using facial recognition to combat shoplifting something critics say is a disproportionate solution for minor crimes (New York Times)

New York Times:
UK convenience stores are increasingly using facial recognition to combat shoplifting, something critics say is a disproportionate solution for minor crimes  —  British merchants are increasingly using the technology to combat shoplifting, raising questions about its spread as artificial intelligence rapidly improves it.

Microsoft fixes issue that caused Outlook outage on the web

It was initially reported that the problem has hit users in North America but Microsoft later confirmed the issue was more "widespread than North America". In the comments on a tweet containing the confirmation of the problem, users from the UK, Latin America and India said that they were affected by the outage. https://ift.tt/PYJKM59

The European Commission publishes its legislative plans to underpin a digital euro including safeguards for privacy and financial stability (Jack Schickler/CoinDesk)

Jack Schickler / CoinDesk:
The European Commission publishes its legislative plans to underpin a digital euro, including safeguards for privacy and financial stability  —  Officials want a digital payment system available to “everyone, everywhere, for free.”  —  BRUSSELS, Belgium - The European Commission published …

Y Combinator received a record 24K applications for its latest cohort accepting less than 1% of which around 35% focus on AI and 50% use AI in their business (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Y Combinator received a record 24K applications for its latest cohort, accepting less than 1%, of which around 35% focus on AI and 50% use AI in their business  —  More than one-third of the famed startup accelerator Y Combinator's latest batch of companies are focused specifically on artificial intelligence.

Potter heads: This new Harry Potter game is now available on Android and iOS

Warner Bros Games has globally launched the mobile game Harry Potter: Magic Awakened, which combines elements of a Collectible Card Game, Role Playing Game, and Massively Multiplayer Online game set in the wizarding world. Players experience a unique narrative, interact with familiar characters, and collect spells and charms to use in duels and adventures at Hogwarts. The game encourages collaboration and teamwork, with activities such as exploring the Forbidden Forest, attending classes, and participating in the Dance Club. It also offers duelling and special limited-time game modes for competitive play. The game is available for download globally. https://ift.tt/VUW2DHr

A US judge denies Sam Bankman-Fried's motion to dismiss or sever most of the criminal charges he faces; Bankman-Fried faces 100 years in prison if convicted (Colin Wilhelm/The Block)

Colin Wilhelm / The Block:
A US judge denies Sam Bankman-Fried's motion to dismiss or sever most of the criminal charges he faces; Bankman-Fried faces 100+ years in prison if convicted  —  A federal judge denied Sam Bankman-Fried's motion to dismiss or sever most of the criminal charges he faces.

MLB partners with Uplift Labs which uses AI to detect players' flaws forecast potential and flag injury risk based on images captured by two iPhone cameras (Lindsey Adler/Wall Street Journal)

Lindsey Adler / Wall Street Journal:
MLB partners with Uplift Labs, which uses AI to detect players' flaws, forecast potential, and flag injury risk based on images captured by two iPhone cameras  —  The most important thing a baseball team can do ahead of the amateur draft is predict future success for developing young ballplayers.

Sources: FTX abruptly halted the sale of its $500M stake in AI startup Anthropic; FTX's bankers had reportedly been shopping its Anthropic stake in early June (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Sources: FTX abruptly halted the sale of its $500M stake in AI startup Anthropic; FTX's bankers had reportedly been shopping its Anthropic stake in early June  —  Bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX has abruptly halted the sale of one of its most sought-after assets: a stake in artificial intelligence startup Anthropic.

Tel Aviv-based NoTraffic an AI-based traffic management service raised a $50M Series B led by M&G Investments following a $17.5M Series A in July 2021 (Rebecca Bellan/TechCrunch)

Rebecca Bellan / TechCrunch:
Tel Aviv-based NoTraffic, an AI-based traffic management service, raised a $50M Series B led by M&G Investments, following a $17.5M Series A in July 2021  —  AI-based traffic management platform NoTraffic has bagged $50 million in Series B funding as it picks up momentum in cities across …

Oppo OnePlus and others may look at offering up to 24GB RAM in future smartphones

How much RAM is too much RAM? After all, tech companies have been consistently increasing the RAM on their phones and up until now, the highest we could have in a smartphone is 18GB, which is likely to come in Redmagic 8S Pro. In a recent development, it has been reported that BBK-owned brands like Oppo, OnePlus and Realme are planning to increase the RAM on their future smartphones. https://ift.tt/qX2ldEs

A look at Amazon's army of smaller AI-powered warehouse robots including Proteus which carries suitcase-sized bins of packages and works alongside humans (Will Knight/Wired)

Will Knight / Wired:
A look at Amazon's army of smaller AI-powered warehouse robots, including Proteus, which carries suitcase-sized bins of packages and works alongside humans  —  A wave of advanced machines is coming to the company's facilities thanks to better AI and robots smart enough to work with—and without—humans.

Some doctors say that their current best use for generative AI is to ease the heavy burden of documentation which takes hours a day and contributes to burnout (Steve Lohr/New York Times)

Steve Lohr / New York Times:
Some doctors say that their current best use for generative AI is to ease the heavy burden of documentation, which takes hours a day and contributes to burnout  —  The best use for generative A.I. in health care, doctors say, is to ease the heavy burden of documentation that takes them hours a day and contributes to burnout.

IBM plans to acquire cloud IT management startup Apptio for $4.6B in cash from Vista Equity Partners which paid $1.94B to take Apptio private in 2018 (Ingrid Lunden/TechCrunch)

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
IBM plans to acquire cloud IT management startup Apptio for $4.6B in cash from Vista Equity Partners, which paid $1.94B to take Apptio private in 2018  —  As cloud architecture continues to more ubiquitous among organizations, increasingly what is more apparent is that many organizations …